leather coral question

[goldrush]

It's been so long since I added anything to the reef that I don't remember this happening. I picked up a leather umbrella coral Saturday.All the way home and all Saturday night it was erect and upright.Sunday morning and up until now it is bent over with the "cup" pointing straight down.It just seems unusual that it didn't droop right away.Am I over analyzing? Do the take a few days like other corals to get used to the conditions. Everything else is doing very well.Thanks in advance.

 

[hubu]

how did you acclimate it? most corals will require a day or two to readjust itself to the new environment. especially if you acclimate it wrong/too fast.

 

[josh]

Hi,
I wouldn't worry too much about it. Leathers are very hardy in general. I assume a toadstool leather is the same as a umbrealla, just never heard it called one before. Leathers are pH sensetive when it comes to extending it's polyps. I would make sure you are close to 8.3, or atleast in the ballpark. Other than that just give it moderate flow and moderate light and it will come around no doubt. One thing to check for it a tissue darkening around the base of the leather, it there is some tissue die off then that's a whole 'nother story. good luck and keep up posted.
~Josh

 

[heavenly damsel]

My toadstool took a few days to adjust also. It still only extends it's polyps when it wants to. I figure it must be okay though because it has an extension coming off the base that looks like a baby. It has become a good bit taller to reach the current from the powerhead in the past week. They do like a little current flowing over them.

 

[javajoe]

Umbrella leathers are different than toadstool leathers. I had the same problem with mine, and it took some research to find out the deal here.
These corals come from about 60-100 ft deep, and are sued to lower wattage lights. they can be adjusted to higher wattage lights, but do it gradually. what i did for mine is covered the VHO lighs with tinfoil right over the coral, and within a day, it was full open again. i slowly removed some tinfoil every few days, and it is now fine in the high wattage lights.
good luck with yours!

 

[wxv102]

I have a crown leather. It was originally erect, and now the stalk is bent over, but the coral is completely open and full. It also has a redish brown algea on the top of the area that is bent over. Do you think it is light related. I have very good coraline growth and only a hint of green algea in the tank. I am running 220 watts power compacts in a 75 gallon aquarium, but the aquarium is in direct sunlight for a portion of the day. The other coral is a yellow finger leather and it looks great. Any ideas?
My water is within specs, but the temp is a little high at 82-3 deg F.
Bill

 

[josh]

Java,
Hey thanks, I stand corrected. Is the difference just the location in the water column or are there morphology differences? They look the same to me but hey I am still learning like everyone else.
~Josh

 

[javajoe]

Originally posted by josh:
<strong>Java,
Hey thanks, I stand corrected. Is the difference just the location in the water column or are there morphology differences? They look the same to me but hey I am still learning like everyone else.
~Josh</strong><hr></blockquote>
I dont think its just the difference with the position in the water column, but when i bought mine, i could not find anything here on Umbrella Leathers-- it looks similar to a toadstool leather, but with enough differences that i knew that it was not the same thing. In my case, i had it for a whole month, and it was still all 'shriveled' and the polyps would not come out. I did some more digging - i cannot find the ocation right now that i got this information, but the umbrella leather's scientific name is "Sarcophyton glaucum" and from what i read, it only comes from the red sea... about 40-50 feet deep, and the
Toadstool leathers name is "Sarcophyton trocheliophorum" and come from the tropical Indo-Pacific.
In my case, after finding information about the depth these grow in, i figured, hey- i bet its too bright! so i did the tinfoil thing, and low and behold, by the next day it was fully open! I removed the foil more and more untill i took it all off, and it is doing fine-- i guess it just needed to adjust to the brighter lights.